Inform
Engage
Empower
What We Do
Air Matters provides free and low-cost educational toolkits to the most vulnerable residents of a community, from elders to pregnant women, asthma patients and patients with heart conditions that are highly susceptible to smoke. Since we began in 2015, we have helped Tribal Nations and communities distribute over 2,150 AirMATTERS and SmokeMATTERS toolkits to their most vulnerable residents.
We spend much of our time in the field, training those who distribute the toolkits, including teachers, nurses, health aides, community organizers, housing authorities, construction teams, weatherization programs, and elders' programs, among others.
Why We Exist
In Tribal nations, rural communities, low-income neighborhoods, and communities of color, indoor air pollution is widespread.
Indoor air pollution sources co-mingle with outdoor air pollutants that infiltrate inside homes. From lead to Carbon Monoxide, diesel exhaust to air toxics, mold to woodsmoke, these pollutants are a legacy of sub-standard housing, land-use policies, and environmental racism.
Our programs are not intended to be a substitute for the broader societal work of remediating the millions of sub-standard housing units, but instead focus on reducing exposure until such time as policies and funding make it possible to fully remediate every single household.
Our Mission
We believe our mission is to inform, engage, and empower the most vulnerable residents about the airborne hazards in their homes.
Our toolkits and supplies provide resources, and the knowledge to use these resources, to families and residents. Our training programs, in turn, provide knowledge to the communities that deliver these toolkits. We believe that this knowledge is the foundation of empowerment, and empowerment is the foundation of change.
